The Second Night
by RonaldAndMione
Summary: The evening after the first day of rebuilding after the final battle, told from Hermione's POV. Follow-up to 'That Day' but it's not necessary to read that to understand this.


**The Second Night**

Showers are actually a rather pleasant thing that could often be taken for granted. As Hermione massaged the rose scented shampoo into her long hair, she vowed she would never take showers for granted, ever.

She had stood under the warm water for over half an hour already, simply because she could. The feeling of all the dirt and grime washing away felt like all your dark and depressing thoughts were leaving you too. Hermione had felt this way as she'd applied the body lotion on herself earlier.

The evening before, Hermione had felt overwhelmed and almost hadn't believed the fact that the war was over. Today, she'd begun helping repair Hogwarts and tending to the injured and it all began to sink in – it was over, it was over, they'd won, it's over.

She kept repeating it to herself all throughout the day, and she was still doing it now, as she rinsed her hair in the Gryffindor Girls' showers. Hermione didn't know the password for the prefects' bathroom anymore, and she wanted to feel the dirt washing away – the feeling you get when you're in a shower, not a bath.

Hermione turned the tap off and opened the shower door. She fumbled around for her towel, and as soon as she found it, she wiped her face and squeezed out the excess water from her hair. She then dried herself with the towel, and put on a pair of pyjamas.

She walked out of the bathroom and along the corridor leading to the girls' bedrooms. Once she reached her dorm room, she quickly placed her things on her bed and left the room, walked down to the common room and up to the boys' dormitories. She entered the seventh year room and smiled.

Ron was waiting for her. He was sitting on the red quilt covering his bed, clad in a grey pyjama top and checkered Chudley Cannon coloured bottoms. He glanced up at her and smiled warmly.

"Hi." Hermione said shyly, standing in the doorway, not knowing what to do.

"Hey," Ron replied just as softly, and with his head gestured for her to enter. "Come in."

Hermione blushed, and walked into the room. Yesterday, she and Ron had fallen asleep on the common room couch, after discussing where they stood with each other. They were now a couple, and though the previous night she hadn't been shy or nervous at all, at that moment, she felt like a young schoolgirl on her first date.

She sat down beside him on his bed and glanced over at what he'd been looking at before she'd entered. The picture in his hand was of him and a man about two years older than him. The older man was laughing and grinning broadly, while Ron rolled his eyes and glowered at him good-naturedly.

"Ron," she began, placing her hand on his shoulder, "do you want to talk about this?"

"There's nothing to say." He said simply, and placed the photo on the bedside table. "He's gone."

It broke her heart to hear Ron say that. Tears began to form in her eyes as she remembered Fred's lifeless body… it had always had joy in it… life in it… he was gone.

Hermione let out a sob and wrapped her other arm around Ron's neck, crying into his shoulder. She felt a warm hand sneak around her waist, pulling her closer to him. Another hand was busy stroking her hair, and it felt so wonderful and soothing.

"Is this real?" he whispered.

Hermione pulled back to look at him. "What?"

Ron sighed, shaking his head. "You're here, you're actually here, and you're _alive_," he breathed out the word with wonder. "And you're mine, you're actually, finally, _mine_, and you love me…" he shook his head once more. "This can't be real."

"I was thinking the same thing about you today." Hermione admitted. She let her right hand slip down from his shoulder. "How you're here…" The hand slowly moved towards his chest. "You're alive…" Once there, the palm stretched out, covering the spot that underneath held Ron's beating heart. "And you're finally, finally mine."

Ron sighed contentedly, and covered her hand with his. "I always was."

Hermione frowned, though a smile remained on her face. "Since when did you become so romantic?"

Ron chuckled. "I don't get you girls. You're always complaining about how guys aren't romantic, and when they try to be, you just spoil the moment by asking when they became like that."

Hermione laughed. "Well, seeing as it's you I'm talking about, I think I have a legitimate reason in wondering when it was you became romantic."

Ron shrugged. "I don't know, I guess during the past year I've matured mentally…"

Hermione nodded. "You have, a lot." Her left hand then slipped from his right shoulder to his biceps. "And not just mentally," she said, blushing.

Ron's ears turned red, but he grinned smugly. "You like what you see?"

Hermione laughed embarrassedly, and nodded. "I guess."

"You guess?" Ron asked, pretending to sound upset.

"Yeah," Hermione continued. "I'm not sure. I mean, they're certainly better than they were last year, I mean, come on, you barely had any before the hunt—"

"Oi!" Ron exclaimed, grinning.

"And now, I guess there's an improvement, but is it enough? I don't know, but compared to last years'—"

"Oh, shut up!" Ron suddenly lunged forward and before Hermione could realise it, he was kissing her passionately, holding her face in his two hands. She quickly wrapped her arms around his neck once more and kissed him back. It was a wonderful way to realise that it was all happening – this was all real, the war was over.

Ron pulled away and Hermione groaned her distaste. Before she could get too annoyed, she felt Ron's lips brushing her cheek and jaw in a wonderfully exciting way, and her groans turned into moans of pleasure.

With every kiss he gave, Ron mumbled, "I love you" into her skin. Hermione sighed and pulled them both lower and lower until they were lying on Ron's bed. Her mind was being torn, she had no idea where to put her hands – there was so much she needed to explore. Should she begin with his freshly-washed hair, or his toned chest, or his burly shoulders, which actually _were_ quite impressive, and had already been perfectly adequate the previous year—

Her hands were running wild, trying to pick a place and focus on it. She finally settled with leaving her left hand in his hair, and her right hand on his shoulder, allowing the fingers of it to casually slip and stroke his chest at times, the same way he was stroking her waist and hips. She heard Ron moan a few times as she did this, and she was embarrassed to realise she was doing her share of moaning too.

He had returned to her lips by then, and they were kissing passionately, as if there weren't enough time, but there was, Hermione reminded herself. They had all the time in the world, because this was it – the war was over, they were safe.

Kissing him deeply and slowly, Hermione began to feel her heart settle down. She sighed into his mouth as they both calmed down, and she felt Ron pull away from her lips.

"When you leave," he breathed heavily, "to find your parents…" he paused to take another breath, "I'm coming with you."

Hermione looked up at him in wonder. "Ron, you can't, your family-"

"_You_ are my family, too." He said. Hermione's eyes widened at the casualness in his voice. He said it as if it were the most obvious thing in the world, and though Hermione felt the same way, hearing it aloud made her feel so amazed. "Hermione, I'm coming with you." He repeated.

"But your parents… Percy just came back… George," her voice shook as she said George's name. He must be feeling awful. She hadn't seen much of him that day – she hadn't seen the Weasley family at all, really. The last time she'd had a real conversation with him was in the interval in the battle yesterday. They must be mourning Fred, and here she was, snogging their son and seriously considering letting him accompany her to Australia on a holiday… "I can't do that to them." She said aloud.

"Do what?" Ron asked.

"I can't take you away from them… they need you… you need them."

"I need you." Ron insisted. "Don't think you're being insensitive if you let me come along – you're not. Hermione, I know my family is pretty effed up at the moment, and they're feeling awful, but I know they won't mind if I go along with you—"

"Ron, your mother is a wreck. She just lost her son, and then you'll come along announcing you're going overseas for an unknown amount of time, and—"

"Hermione, she'll be fine with it. There are still Death Eaters around and you need someone to come with you—"

"If you're that concerned I can ask Harry, although I'm sure it'll take some time to convince Ginny to let him go—"

"Hermione," Ron said seriously, smoothing her thick hair down as he spoke. "You need someone who'll be able to help you fight in case there's any danger. You also need someone there… don't get mad… but…" he took a deep breath, "you need someone who'll be ready to comfort you when you break down."

Hermione was not mad at all when she heard this. On the contrary, she was surprised that Ron realised this about her before she did. He was absolutely right.

"Harry can do the first one, obviously… but… I think I can do a better job with the second one." Ron spoke the words quietly, almost bashfully. His cheeks were pink. "You need… you need _me_."

Hermione let the corners of her lips turn upwards in a smile. The certainty was clear in Ron's voice, but Hermione could also detect nervousness – Ron thought she was going to reject him. "I do." She said. "I know I need you - you and only you." Ron smiled a relieved grin. "But what about your family?"

"I'm not going to be any help to my family without you." Ron declared. "Hermione, you're… you're everything… you're my rock. The only thing that's gotten me through the past two days is you. If you leave me now, I…" he took another deep breath and shuddered as he let it out. "I won't be able to do anything. I'll just fall apart."

Hermione gave him a look expressing doubt. She couldn't really mean that much to him, could she? Ron nodded, sensing her disbelief.

"Hermione, today, when we were clearing up the castle, I felt so bloody awful I just wanted to fall on the rubble and cry, but then I just looked at you, on the other side of the room, talking to people, comforting them, and you'd look up and smile at me, and bloody hell, Hermione, just seeing that _smile_ made me feel a thousand times better, and knowing that you loved me, that something amazing had come out of this god damn war… Hermione, I need _you_, plain and simple. And you need _me_, I _know_ you do. It's only _logical_ that we go find your parents together." He said, a small grin on his face. "And you know you can't fight logic." Hermione sighed. "Let me come to Australia with you."

Hermione caressed the tips of Ron's ginger locks as she pondered what he said. She wanted to say yes so badly… the thought of them in Australia together sounded wonderful… he could help her… she needed him as much as he needed her. They could focus on the good things that had come out of the war, like the fact they were together... "Okay." She whispered. "We're going to Australia together."

Ron's eyes widened slightly. "Yeah?" he asked hopefully.

"Yeah." She said shyly.

Ron grinned broadly and kissed her forehead. "Brilliant." He said. "For a moment there, I thought I was going to have to hide myself in your suitcase."

The thought of someone of Ron's size trying to fit into a small suitcase entered Hermione's mind and she started laughing – obviously, Ron could cast an undetectable extension charm, but the vision Hermione saw was so funny, Hermione tried to avoid logical reasoning for once.

"That would have been an interesting thing to tell my parents." Hermione commented, and immediately stopped laughing.

Ron knew exactly what the problem was and cupped her cheek once more. "Hey," he whispered. "We're going to find them. I promise."

Hermione swallowed nervously. "It'll be hard… I sent them to Brisbane, but what if something's happened to them? It might not even be a magical disaster – you hear about muggle deaths every day, there's car accidents, natural disasters… cyclones are common in Queensland, the state Brisbane's in… what if my parents – oh, Merlin, what have I done? I should never have modified their memories, they're going to hate me so—"

"Hermione, shut up." Ron said, and Hermione immediately stopped talking, and instead glared at him. Ron chuckled softly. "Sorry, but you really need to." Hermione rolled her eyes. He smiled at her. "We're going to find them, you're going to give them their memories back, and they're going to hug you until you can't breathe, because you saved them, and you're alive, and you have a rather handsome and brilliant boyfriend now."

"Well, you're right about one thing." Hermione said, with a small smile. "I am alive, aren't I?"

"Oi!" Ron said, "What about your handsome and brilliant boyfriend?"

Hermione laughed, and lifted her head up to kiss him. She felt Ron smile against her lips and kiss her back eagerly. She ran her hands through Ron's red hair, and she felt Ron's tongue slide into—

"Oh, sorry."

Ron immediately pulled away from her to look at the intruder. "Sea-_mus_," he groaned.

Seamus gave them a small grin. "Hope I didn't interrupt anything," he said.

"Bugger off." Ron replied.

"Ron!" Hermione chided, smoothing down Ron's hair as a way to calm him – it was certainly soothing whenever he did it to her.

"You do realise this room is shared?" Seamus said, still grinning. "It's my room just as much as it is yours. Dean and Neville are probably going to come up here soon too."

Something clicked in Hermione's mind. "What about Harry?" Hermione asked worriedly.

"Ah, I saw him sitting on an armchair with Ginny in his lap – they were both sleeping, so I don't think he'll be coming up here tonight."

Ron frowned, and Hermione felt him begin to get up. "Ron." She simply said, looking at him seriously.

"Bloody hell, Hermione, she's my sister—"

"We were doing the exact same thing last night." Hermione reminded him. Ron smiled at the memory.

"Yeah, you were." Seamus said. "You guys were the first ones in the common room, and everyone saw you when they came up."

"Shut up, Seamus." Ron said, still smiling. He looked back at Hermione. "I guess it's a good thing, though. Now everyone knows you're mine." Hermione beamed back at him, and leaned up to kiss him once more, when Seamus cleared his throat.

"I'm sorry you two, but I'm still here."

Ron groaned and lowered his head in frustration. His stubble tickled Hermione's neck and bare shoulder. "Then leave."

"Seamus," Hermione said looking over at him. "I'm actually staying here tonight too… I hope you don't mind."

"It's not really for him to decide." Ron said, his voice muffled.

"Yeah, I don't mind. Just keep it appropriate." Seamus said. Ron, without looking up, stuck up his hand in a rude gesture. Seamus laughed and pulled his bed curtains around his bed. "Don't make me have to cast the muffliato charm on myself." He called out.

Ron sighed against Hermione, and she laughed at the tickling sensation.

"You smell nice." He mumbled. "Rose?"

Hermione let out a slightly breathless "Mm," of confirmation.

"It's really good." Ron said, moving his hand up and gently caressing her bare shoulder; the sleeve of her t-shirt had fallen down slightly during their passionate kissing. The feeling of his hands on her skin made her sigh once more. She felt Ron place a small kiss and pull up.

"I still can't believe it." He murmured, looking down at Hermione.

Hermione smiled. "Neither can I."

"We have time though…" he said, almost speaking to himself. "We have time to believe it, yeah?"

Hermione nodded. "Yeah," she whispered. "We have forever."

Ron leaned down to kiss her lightly on the lips. "Forever." He whispered.

Hermione couldn't help but smile. "Are you sure you're the real Ron Weasley?"

Ron chuckled. "Last time I checked."

"You ought to check again." Hermione told him.

Ron looked down at himself. "Yeah, I'm Ron Weasley, defender of the wizarding world and insanely in love with Hermione Granger."

Hermione rolled her eyes good naturedly. "I love you too."

Ron sighed and lay down next to Hermione. "That's nice to hear."

Hermione turned her head to face him. Ron looked back at her, smiling goofily. It was the way Hermione had always hoped he'd look at her.

"Let's get some sleep." He finally said.

Hermione nodded. "Alright," she said, and snuggled closer to Ron, closing her eyes. She heard him sigh and felt an arm circle around her.

"I love you." She said, and it made her beam knowing that she could say it as many times as she wanted to.

"I love you, too." She heard, along with a content sigh. She felt Ron rest his chin atop her head and she smiled into his chest, feeling fully safe and alive for the first time in years.

**Thank you for reading! I'd love to recieve a review from you, telling me what you thought.**


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